New Mexico Freed From Federal School Rating Law

New Mexico has become the latest state to free itself from an unpopular federal system of rating public schools.

President Barack Obama's administration on Wednesday granted New Mexico the flexibility to implement its own school grading program rather than follow the mandates of the No Child Left Behind law.

State Education Designate Hanna Skandera called it a "huge win for our state."

"It is a great day for our state, for the first time ever we are a leading state in this nation when it comes to education reform," Skandera said. "We get to replace it with our very own new mexico state accountability system which includes school grades."

The federal school ratings have long been subject to criticism from educators who consider the law too rigid because it takes a pass-or-fail approach rather than measure the progress that students or schools may be making.

Nearly 90 percent of New Mexico's public schools failed last year to make "adequate yearly progress" under the federal law.

Gov. Susana Martinez said U.S. Secretary of Education Arnie Ducan called personally to tell her New Mexico was free from No Child Left Behind.

"He was very complimentary of the progress that we've made in short amount of time to reform education," Martinez said.

The news generated responses from around the state.

Albuquerque Public Schools Superintendent Winston Brooks said in a statement, "The success of obtaining the waiver from the No Child Left Behind Act releases us from the possibility of having to use two academic accountability systems to measure the success of our schools."

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